Was listening to Rush Limbaugh talking about the economy today - specifically about jobs and the so-called summit President Obama is finally going to hold in December to address unemployment.As Rush said, until small businesses are given a tax break and other incentives, they won't be hiring at a rate high enough to get most people back to work. And because small businesses employ most people in this country, any further delay in helping these companies will just bury us deeper into this recession. No hiring, no jobs. No jobs, no buying of goods and services. No consumers equals more economic pain for a growing number of people and companies. Even the government suffers because there isn't enough tax money coming in. And when the government suffers, that means no new roads. No new schools or research funding for diseases. The domino effect is endless.So Limbaugh's focusing on building the private sector as solution, rather than politicians randomly pumping more stimulus money in the economy and into government jobs, is probably a pretty logical approach.
But here's the problem with Rush. Like others who are either liberal or conservative, he's one-dimensional. He doesn't take a fair and holistic approach to solving all that is wrong. He has an agenda. He's a rich guy trying to protect every penny he has and pretty much admits that on his radio show each day. I get no sense from him that he is ever willing to carry his fair share of the load. That is not to say some of his ideas aren't on target. It just means he's unable to stray very far from his core beliefs and seems proud of it. In that way, he's very much like Obama. Their solutions come from preconceived notions that don't address the whole problem.Yes, what we need is someone to fight for small businesses. I have personal friends who own small businesses who all say the same thing - they need a break, mainly from taxes, in order to hire. But we also need someone to come down hard on corporations that abuse the system. That won't be Limbaugh. He won't attack corporate America or Wall Street when they go astray. He won't stand up for laid off workers who were let go unfairly or approve of regulations that prevent corporate misdeeds. He's not a true friend of the underdog, although he pretends to be in order to build an audience. Like many hardened conservatives, he blindly supports greed and cares only for those who are able to help themselves. And those right-wing blind spots have gotten us into as much of a mess as liberals who want to tax the heck out of small businesses.It seems we need some sort of hybrid leader who isn't wed to one ideology. We need someone who doesn't have a personal agenda and isn't motivated by political incentives. We need someone to diagnose the unemployment problem and then proceed with fixing it like a surgeon repairs a heart. It shouldn't matter what one's personal beliefs are. The only thing that should matter is saving the patient - being open minded to all solutions and then taking a course of action that is intellectually correct. A solution that will help blue and white-collar workers, and business owners who are willing to play more fairly.
If a business is given a tax break or other government incentives, then it needs to be more accountable and not lay off workers on a whim or pad CEO bonuses. Those in a position to hire must do so if the obstacles are cleared. If they don't abide by some sense of fairness, or if they continue to freeze average salaries while CEOs are pampered in Palm Springs, then those incentives should be forfeited and those business should be left to fail. No more bailing out massive companies that don't put a priority on their employees.If we continue on a black or white path - this selfish, egotistical way of doing things - then we will have no one to blame but ourselves when this country collapses. If we don't somehow get smarter people with more accurate morale compasses into leadership positions, I believe capitalism will become extinct or so mutated that we won't recognize it.
Summits are only as good as the people attending them. Consensus can be a deceptive thing and it can be weighted one way or another depending on the invitation list. If the unemployment summit produces more of the same old solutions, I believe we will be looking at 13% unemployment by next November. Then Rush Limbaugh will really have something to talk about.
Ran into someone this morning from USA Today who got laid off from the newspaper at the same time I did last year. Neither of us previously knew the other had been laid off. We worked in different departments and only crossed paths on rare occasion in an office building that housed hundreds of employees. But seeing a familiar face today from the old stomping grounds was an unexpectedly positive experience.He was at the paper for 23 years. I was there 13 years. He worked in production. I was an editor in the newsroom. But we were both part of the same overall "family." So when we saw each other in a coffee shop, it was like seeing fellow survivor of a plane crash on a deserted island a year after the wreck. You're just happy to see someone, anyone, alive.We're both surviving but are without full-time jobs. Sadly, his house was foreclosed upon. I worry about the future every day, of course. Both of us agreed that we lost a part of our identities when we were removed from the family about a year ago. It's natural to feel a loss of more than just income when one loses a long-time job through no fault of their own. We know, in the dying newspaper field, resuming our careers is a long shot.I think the brief coincidental encounter did both of us some good on another rainy Northern Virginia day. It reminded me that others were cutoff from their friends, livelihoods and identities on that December day in 2008. In some strange way, it was good to reconnect with a person who was in the same downed plane - to see another person on an island that often feels lifeless. From his expressions and body language, I think the feeling was mutual.
The Killeen Daily Herald set single-copy sales records in the aftermath of the Fort Hood shootings last week. You hear this quite often, after a tragedy or other big news event, that newspapers still sell out quickly. A Yankees World Series win meant big sales for the New York papers. Last year's presidential election was a banner day for national print publications like USA Today.
Yet, we also hear that the newspaper business is dying. Being a layoff victim of that industry, I often feel there is no future for print publications. But then along comes these big news days and customers flock to the stands to read all about the good, bad or ugly. And while readers also go the the news web sites, they seem to have a insatiable desire to feel paper in their hands when it comes to historic events.
I think there is a lesson for publishers and journalists in this phenomenon.
A recent article in the Fort Worth Star Telegram explained why being out of work now is tougher than it was in the early 1980s. While unemployment benefits are better in 2009, the chances of returning to work are worse, according to the article.In another article in the Star Telegram, there are predictions that unemployment will remain high for several more years. Here's that story: http://www.star-telegram.com/461/story/1750451.htmlSo the stimulus money that was suppose to cap unemployment at around 8 percent hasn't worked. The wars that we were suppose to end and stop paying for once we got rid of President Bush are still raging on and may escalate in Afghanistan.
And all I hear President Obama and other Washington politicians talking about is health insurance.I have lost a lot of faith in Obama. Smart guy who seems to be losing perspective rapidly. He's becoming a one-trick pony, which is not what we need right now. Personally, I don't want to see him on anymore golf courses or dates with Michelle on Broadway until he starts making progress to ease the unemployment problem and ends wars in two countries. If Bush was pulling this crap, everyone, including the media, would be screaming.
While medical insurance might eventually be reformed, is actual health care going to be improved? Are doctors going to start learning how to not shuttle patients through like they're on an assembly line? Are medical people going listen to patients and stop making diagnoses that are, in a word, wrong?
Mainstream doctors are far too quick to hand out antibiotics (which are actually far more dangerous than advertised) to the sick and Prozac to the emotionally troubled. My cat's vet spends more time with him than my doctors do with me, and offers more alternatives.
Many more folks might soon have insurance, but what kind of service and care are going to await all these new patients?Pet peeve of the day. It would be a relief if media people stopped using the meaningless phrase, "on the ground." This started at the beginning of the Iraq war, when it was somewhat relevant in a military sense, but has now worked its way into almost every talking-head conversation that takes place about politics, Wall Street, real estate, sports, poker, baking...you name it. It's become filler. Needless drama. We don't need to hear that political advisers are "on the ground" in Iowa or students are "on the ground" at recess. Where else would they be?
In the grand scheme of things, this is fairly trivial stuff that I don't usually comment on here. But in light of all the Michael Jackson news this year, I can't help but wonder what's going on with former baseball star Sammy Sosa. Why is his skin turning so light as seen in the photo above (left) that is circulating around the Internet? Explanations seem to range from some sort of skin reconditioning to the aftermath of alleged steroid use. Or is he just going MJ?
John Allen Muhammad is scheduled to die by lethal injection tonight at a state prison in Jarratt, Va. I have written about this case before so I won't rehash it.The Supreme Court rejected an appeal, so there isn't much left to prevent the execution. Virginia is one of the top three death penalty states and, regardless of which party is in power, governors don't often step in at the 11th hour to save a convicted felon here.Locally, there is a lot being written in the newspapers and talked about on radio and TV today. The sniper attacks occurred about a year after 9/11, so folks were already on edge from the nearby Pentagon tragedy being fresh in their memories. Many felt the sniper attacks were another sign that the world was going to Hell.
This is the real unemployment number. Yep, one in six Americans are out of work or are severely underemployed. Yet, the government wants the public to focus on the misleading 10.2% number it released on Friday - not that the lesser number is anything to feel good about. Read the whole truth here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/07/business/economy/07econ.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1257606205-mqGmdpcBD0gTILkBBxWlIgAnd just to dispel the notion that it's easy to find a job in areas like Washington, D.C., take a look at this article. Even jobs at the mall are hard to come by. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/06/AR2009110603958.html?hpid=newswellHowever one wants to juggle statistics, there is no escaping the fact that most employers aren't hiring and some are getting ready for more layoffs. Those layoff victims from severely failing industries virtually have no hope of being rehired. Those wanting to transition to other careers have to get in line behind the folks who already have experience in those fields. After a certain age that just doesn't become a feasible wait.While statistics show that those who are over 50 are less likely to lose their jobs than younger workers (probably due to the last-hired first fired protocol some businesses use), other stats indicate that if you are in the minority of older workers who get the boot, your chances of reentering the workplace are extremely poor. One article I read recently said that those who are 30something and in hiring positions don't like hiring their "parents."
In light of these facts, I can't help thinking about my layoff at USA Today last year and how it was particularly cruel. The search for viable work goes on, of course, but the odds are getting worse by the day according to the unemployment numbers, trends and the many first-hand tales being told by average Joes who have been looking for work longer than me.
A lot has been written about the Fort Hood (Texas) shootings in the last 24 hours. I can't really add much to the conversation about the horror of what occurred there.
But there is something that caught my eye. The alleged gunman is a graduate of Virginia Tech.There have been so many tragedies connected to that university in the last three years that it's getting hard to keep track. Of course, April 16, 2007, when 32 students were gunned down, remains the darkest day in that school's history and is something that I have personal ties to.
There have been other tragic connections to Tech in recent months and years, including a murder near campus a few months prior to the April 16 massacre.Last year, there was a beheading on campus. Yes, someone was killed right out in the open.
Recently, a student from VT disappeared after a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia. She has not been found.
And in 2008, two students from Virginia Tech were murdered while camping.
Throw in Michael Vick's (a former star football player at VT) horrendous dog-fighting conviction, and it's getting a little hard to comprehend how many high-profile crimes have been related to Virginia Tech in some way in a very short period of time. That is not to say these things are not just simply coincidences. Probably are. Still, I am unaware of any other university that is in national headlines as often as Tech has been since 2007. At least not for this type of stuff.Blacksburg, Va., where the Virginia Tech is located, is a very small town in the middle of nowhere. The closest city of any mentionable size is Roanoke, about 30 miles away. Many of Tech's students are from Northern Virginia and the D.C. suburbs, about a four-hour drive.
Thirty years ago, Va. Tech was where state students went who didn't have the grades (or money) for the University of Virginia. But now Tech is considered an academically competitive school. It's known for its strong engineering program, powerhouse football team and its tight-knit community. In addition, Tech alumni, students and educators are fiercely protective of their school's image and loyal to a point of being a bit unsettling to "outsiders."Unfortunately, and for whatever reason, Tech is also associated with some pretty horrific events in recent years. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the accused gunman at Fort Hood, is just the latest name in the news to be connected to the school. It's getting odd, to say the least.
When I first heard about the shooting in an Orlando, Fla., office building today, the first thing that came to mind was whether the gunman might be a recently terminated employee. Sure enough, Jason Rodriguez, 40, who killed one person and injured five others, was an engineer who was let go from his job two years ago. The termination, however, appears to have been performance related rather than a layoff due to the economy. Here's the story: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/os-shooting-reported-downtown-orlando-20091106,0,7958763.storyWhile there are allegations that Rodriguez was emotionally unstable, one has to wonder about the millions of out-of-work people who might be in need of more than just financial assistance as jobs continue to dry up. Emotional issues are bound to arise for longtime unemployed people. A little awareness now might go a long way in preventing future workplace tragedies, domestic violence and other mental health disorders brought on by a dismal economy.
The news today is worse than expected. Unemployment jumped the 10 percent mark. The unemployment rate only measures the number of people actively seeking work. Many have stopped looking for a job for various reasons. And many more have become underemployed and are hanging on by a thread. They are not counted in the unemployment figures. They have little hope of returning to once vibrant careers.Meanwhile, layoffs continue. Businesses are still closing. Borders books announced this week that it will close many of its smaller stores. Storefronts remain empty. The newspaper business, the profession I worked in for 29 years, continues to get rid of journalists, ad reps, circulation managers and others.
It's hard to see anything positive happening in this so-called economic recovery.
Update: Read more about the real number of out of work or underemployed people at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/07/business/economy/07econ.html?_r=1&hp
Was listening to Rush Limbaugh talking about the economy today - specifically about jobs and the so-called summit President Obama is finally going to hold in December to address unemployment.
